This program supports activities that share, explore, pass on, express, or celebrate culture through the arts. Culture may be defined by a common ethnicity, tribal affiliation, geographic or regional identity, occupation, language, or recreation. Traditional and contemporary forms of cultural expression may be funded in this program. Funds could be used to support practicing a cultural art form; presenting cultural festivals, community celebrations, performances, media or exhibitions; offering demonstrations, etc. Funds could also be used to deepen or pass on cultural traditions through apprenticeships or documentation.
| Grantee, City |
Grant Amount |
African Economic Development Solutions, Saint Paul | $ 35,000 | | African Economic Development Solutions will mobilize African immigrant, refugee, and next-generation youth artists to express, explore, and share their rich cultures with diverse Minnesotans through year-round, in person and virtual art enriched creative programs. |
Afrocontigbo, Golden Valley | $ 34,900 | | Afrocontigbo will present a three-month program to promote various West African cultures and wellness through the art of dance. Participants will learn from experienced instructors and exhibit their newfound skills at a grand cultural showcase. |
Alliance of Minnesota Chinese Organizations, Saint Paul | $ 30,000 | | Alliance of Minnesota Chinese Organizations will offer artistic and cultural engagement through celebrations from and for the Asian community, as well as entertainment for people in the Twin Cities, thereby enriching the quality of life through cultural expression. |
Leila Awadallah, Minneapolis | $ 25,000 | | Awadallah will create programming for Body Watani Dance Project, offering workshops in Arabic and Arabic contemporary dance, and engaging a group of interdisciplinary Palestinian artists in collaborative research culminating in a performance. |
CAAM Chinese Dance Theater, Saint Paul | $ 35,000 | | CAAM Chinese Dance Theater will engage its community, including dancers, audiences, and other participants in creation of deeply meaningful, highly innovative self-produced shows that reflect profound nuances of Chinese culture. |
CAPI USA, Minneapolis | $ 27,627 | | CAPI USA will present Twin Cities World Refugee Day, an occasion for local refugee artists to present unique creative elements of their cultures and for the wider community to get an educational and humanizing idea of the 120,000 refugees who are their neighbors. |
Luke Cardona, Fridley | $ 24,000 | | Cardona will bring Mexican music to Minnesota communities to promote a cultural experience. The final performance may feature an individual artist or group that educates on musical history. |
Chinese Community Center, Bloomington | $ 25,000 | | Chinese Community Center will host Taste of Asia with stage performances and cultural craft exhibitors highlighting the diverse arts and traditions of Asian American and Pacific Islander Minnesotans. |
Catherine L. Colsrud, Sandstone | $ 19,265 | | Colsrud will offer traditional Native American blanket making classes in person for tribal community members. |
Concordia University Saint Paul-Hmong Culture and Language Program, Saint Paul | $ 16,000 | | Concorida University Saint Paul's Center for Hmong Studies will develop, install, and curate a traveling exhibit using Hmong textiles, titled Hmong History through Textile. |
Cow Tipping, Minneapolis | $ 35,000 | | Cow Tipping Press will help sixty Minnesotans with intellectual and developmental disabilities-half BIPOC, half from greater MN-build intersectional disability culture and publish six radically self-representative chapbooks, celebrated in community events. |
Dakota Wicohan, Morton | $ 35,000 | | Dakota Wicohan will provide traditional Dakota arts learning for Dakota artist apprentices to design and create their own dance regalia under the guidance of a master artist. |
Isabella Dawis, Minneapolis | $ 25,000 | | Dawis will develop and present a musical theater piece about the Japanese female astronomer and hidden figure Hisako Koyama, in collaboration with AAPI artists from the Twin Cities. |
Division of Indian Work, Minneapolis | $ 20,790 | | Division of Indian Work will partner with New Native Theatre for a youth summer camp, where students will practice conventional theater skills in a culturally sensitive environment, led by Native instructors and professional artists. |
Festival de las Calaveras, Minneapolis | $ 35,000 | | Festival de las Calaveras 2024 will share vibrant Latinx cultural arts and Day of the Dead traditions through live music, dance, poetry, storytelling, and art presentations in community gatherings. This cultural artistic celebration is welcoming to all. |
Luis Fitch, Minneapolis | $ 24,999 | | Fitch will offer four family workshops to educate participants about Día de Muertos. Fitch's art will also be showcased at the Bloomington Art Center gallery for four months. |
Germanic-American Institute, Saint Paul | $ 35,000 | | The Germanic-American Institute will offer three events celebrating German culture and traditions through song, dance, food, and other activities. |
Hiddo Soor, Minneapolis | $ 25,000 | | Hiddo Soor will coordinate and host a Somali cultural festival to celebrate, promote, and highlight diversity and intercultural appreciation to Minnesotans, with the streets of the town being filled with the sounds of music and people. |
Hindu Society of Minnesota, Maple Grove | $ 35,000 | | The Hindu Society of Minnesota will execute and expand on the existing Diwali celebration. This celebration includes a variety of music and dance performances from various parts of South Asia. |
Hispanic Outreach of Goodhue County, Red Wing | $ 25,000 | | Hispanic Outreach of Goodhue County will present a 2024 Hispanic Heritage Festival that is open to all; encourages Minnesota Hispanic artists and residents to express, celebrate, and share their varied cultures; and invites all residents to explore, share, and enjoy these cultures. |
Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County, Moorhead | $ 10,700 | | Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County will present Pangea-Cultivate Our Cultures, a multicultural festival that will be held November 16, 2024. |
Hmong Museum, Saint Paul | $ 35,000 | | Hmong Museum will develop and host public demonstrations and workshops teaching traditional Hmong batik and basket weaving. |
ICAM, Rochester | $ 24,375 | | ICAM will host two events in 2024 to provide the Rochester community an immersive experience of Indian culture: a folk dance and music garba, and an Indian classical or contemporary dance and music recital by a professional artist. |
Igbofest MN, Brooklyn Center | $ 35,000 | | The Umunne Cultural Association will hold Igbofest, a public celebration of African culture. |
India Association of Minnesota, Saint Paul | $ 24,450 | | India Association of Minnesota will celebrate IndiaFest 2024, a free event showcasing the arts and culture of India with live Asian-Indian dance performances by professional and community groups, Saturday, August 17, 2024, at the State Capitol. |
Kristofer J. Keltgen, Madison Lake | $ 24,950 | | Keltgen will develop a high quality cinematic documentary outlining the impact that German American music, ethnic instruments, and dancing have had on Minnesota culture from the past to present, and improve Minnesotans' exposure to the arts. |
Brook LaFloe, Saint Paul | $ 25,000 | | Brook LaFloe (Turtle Mountain) will host a mobile cultural sharing series that will include six different workshops led collaboratively with other Native artists and/or culture bearers. |
Lao Culture Dance and Traditional Fashion Show LLC, Saint Paul Park | $ 35,000 | | Lao Culture Dance and Traditional Fashion Show will teach and perform new dances with students-LumSiPhanDon dance and Wishing dance; direct Miss NangSangKhan Pageant; and produce Lao New Year including live music and traditional Lao dances. |
Sarah B. Larsson, Minneapolis | $ 25,000 | | Larsson will present Immigrantke, a concert series highlighting the stories and musical traditions of Jewish immigrants who were excluded by the 1924 Immigration Act. Two workshops will be offered in conjunction with the series. |
Annette S. Lee, Maple Grove | $ 25,000 | | Lee will provide audiences with a deeper understanding of our human responsibilities and relationship with the winged ones (birds) as related to Indigenous Ojibwe and D(L)akota celestial/terrestrial knowledges through contemporary media and design. |
MacRostie Art Center, Grand Rapids | $ 35,000 | | MacRostie Art Center will develop the Giinawind Creative Space as a center of Native art and culture in downtown Grand Rapids. Giinawind will host community gatherings, exhibits, performances, and workshops by Indigenous artists and culture bearers. |
Minneapolis American Indian Center, Minneapolis | $ 35,000 | | Minneapolis American Indian Center will create a safe, supportive, and welcoming environment for Native artists by showcasing Indigenous cultural heritage and creativity of Mni Sota Makoce in a newly renovated facility that will include interactive education and programming areas. |
Minnesota Polish Medical Society, Roseville | $ 33,080 | | The Minnesota Polish Medical Society will present its Kalejdoskop touring exhibit, highlighting the experiences of Polish-American immigrants during the Cold War through photography, video, and original storytelling. |
Minnesota Tamil Sangam, Minnetonka | $ 35,000 | | The Tamil Association of Minnesota will train community members on Tamil folk and traditional arts (instrumental music and dance) with a final performance at a Muthamizh Vizha event (summer Tamil festival) to be held in August 2024. |
Mizna, Saint Paul | $ 35,000 | | Mizna will produce the eighteenth Twin Cities Arab Film Festival. |
MN Zej Zog, New Hope | $ 35,000 | | MN Zej Zog will present Herstory Through Heirloom Portaiture, a collaboration between photographer Richard Schultz, a novice Hmong photographer, and Hmong elderly women to capture beauty of their lived experiences through photos. |
NEO MURALISMOS DE MEXICO, Saint Paul | $ 35,000 | | NEO MURALISMOS DE MEXICO will launch 10,000 Alebrijes-a Minnesota statewide public art exhibit celebrating the magic and color of the Mexican folk art tradition of alebrijes. Land of 10,000 Lakes, meet 10,000 Alebrijes! |
The Park Place, Minneapolis | $ 18,000 | | The Park Place will hold monthly art workshops for Latine youth, families, and individuals taught by local Latine artists as a celebration of self and culture. |
Pooja G. Pavan, Minneapolis | $ 25,000 | | Pavan, a Hindustani composer, vocalist, educator, and scholar, will create ten music appreciation videos for diverse Minnesotans to help them learn, explore, and appreciate the basics of Hindustani (North Indian classical) vocal music forms. |
Penumbra Theatre, Saint Paul | $ 35,000 | | Penumbra Theatre will present the regional premiere of the play FLEX, with programs including matinees for local school groups and a culturally specific fellowship for young creative professionals. |
Planting People Growing Justice Leadership Institute, Saint Paul | $ 23,350 | | Planting People Growing Justice Leadership Institute will coordinate a series of cultural workshops and the publication of an anthology that inspires and equips the Black community to express its unique cultural experience through the literary arts. |
Project FINE, Winona | $ 35,000 | | Project FINE will empower refugees and immigrants to share their art and culture through a series of community workshops. Participants will explore the cultural significance of various art forms and create their own art using traditional methods. |
Joshua Rosard, Minneapolis | $ 22,938 | | Rosard will coordinate the second annual Klezmer on Ice festival-a weekend of immersive experiences including Klezmer concerts, workshops, dancing, and singing, showcasing expressive culture of traditional Jewish people from Eastern Europe. |
Samsoche G. Sampson, Grand Rapids | $ 29,040 | | Sampson will lead a cultural education project with students and staff in the ISD #318 Ojibwe education program. Biweekly culture classes in beading, regalia making, hoop dancing, and more will culminate in a community showcase event. |
The SEAD Project, Minneapolis | $ 35,000 | | The SEAD Project will expand the SEA Roots program, an annual series of cultural and arts workshops and language classes, redefining what community development looks like for the Southeast Asian diaspora. |
Summer Cypher, Saint Paul | $ 25,000 | | Summer Cypher will create authentic hip-hop spaces "on the block" for community to immerse themselves in a process of self-exploration and critical self-reflection within the raw elements of hip-hop-an undiluted expression of culture and creativity. |
TaikoArts Midwest, Minneapolis | $ 35,000 | | TaikoArts Midwest will bring masters from Japan and Canada to collaborate with local artists to create a cultural performance and taiko drumming workshops. |
Bryan Thao Worra, Minneapolis | $ 25,000 | | Thao Worra will incubate and support experimental Lao Minnesotan intercultural poetry chapbook and journal production, performances, and cultural festivals during the 50th anniversary of Lao diaspora. |
Tiyumba African Drum and Dance Company, Minneapolis | $ 35,000 | | Tiyumba African Drum and Dance Company will invite guest artists of the Dagbamba tribe to join in hosting dance workshops and performances for youth in Minneapolis and Farmington school districts, as well as the broader Minneapolis and Saint Paul community. |
Tubman, Minneapolis | $ 32,883 | | Tubman will partner with local artists Afrocontigbo and Titambe to deliver interactive West African drumming and dance workshops for families experiencing trauma to help them heal, build self-confidence, and celebrate culture. |
Turkish American Association of Minnesota, Saint Paul | $ 35,000 | | Turkish American Association of Minnesota will present the Turkish Cultural Festival, a vibrant celebration of Turkish culture, music, art, and traditions. |
Twin Cities Iranian Culture Collective, New Brighton | $ 34,360 | | Twin Cities Iranian Culture Collective will provide programming throughout the year, including the Iranian-American artists exhibition, MSP Iranian Film Fest, Nowruz (New Year) Concert, and the Fall Iranian Culture Festival featuring Iranian music, dance, and more. |
Claudia A. Valentino, Minneapolis | $ 24,990 | | Valentino will partner with Lynda Acosta to execute five workshops tailored toward Spanish-speaking, Latina, immigrant, nonbinary, and moms. During these three-hour workshops, both artists will link art, culture, community, and healing. |
Wakan Tipi Awanyankapi, Saint Paul | $ 35,000 | | Wakan Tipi Awanyankapi will support an artist apprenticeship and public programming focused on the creation of two traditional Dakota dugout canoes as part of the Dakota Lifeways Institute, an integrated traditional cultural and ecological program. |
Dan Yang, Saint Paul | $ 34,800 | | Yang and his team of artists will produce a captivating ten-episode bilingual video program. This program will educate youth and young adults on the rich tapestry of classic Hmong folklore and mythology. |
Janette B. Yiran, Waite Park | $ 25,000 | | Yiran will foster intercultural understanding, preserve African heritage, promote diversity, and strengthen our society through artistic expressions of African storytelling, drumming, dance, and art. |
